Ottawa Senators take one on the chin in ugly loss to Capitals

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Talk about a total disaster for the Ottawa Senators.

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The Senators had a night they’d just as soon forget as they opened this two-game road trip with a disgraceful 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night at the Capital One Arena.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Senators couldn’t get a stop from Anton Forsberg, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 10 shots in 20 minutes, and to make matters worse Joonas Korpisalo wasn’t much better when he took over in the second period.

“We gave them all four goals in the first,” defenceman Jake Sanderson told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson. “Yeah, they won the game, but I feel like we beat ourselves tonight. I felt like in past games, we were playing fast and getting shots. We only had 20 shots and that’s not going to cut it.”

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Trying to extend their winning streak to three straight after wins over the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights, the Senators landed squarely back on earth in this loss. Only Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto were able to beat Washington goalie Darcy Kuemper.

Just when it looks like the Senators are headed in the right direction, they take another step backwards. This wasn’t good in any way, shape or form because the Senators really didn’t give themselves a chance to win and it was a frustrating night for everybody involved.

“We were just a little flat tonight. We had a tough start and that put us behind the eight-ball,” Pinto said. “There’s no excuses. We’ve just got to play better and start better. We’ve just got to be better.”

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Interim coach Jacques Martin was pleased with the way his club had been playing at both ends of the ice, but as they prepare to face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena the Senators need to clean up their act or they’ll be embarrassed again.

“It seemed like it was a tough battle,” Martin said. “It just seemed like we couldn’t get any traction. We made some mistakes that were costly.”

OFF THE GLASS

The Senators came into this game with an 11-4-3 record in the last 18 games. If they really wanted to close the gap in the East playoff race then they couldn’t afford this loss to the Caps. Washington is one of the six teams they have to vault over to make the post-season. That’s not happening … The decision to start Forsberg in the first game of this back-to-back was hardly a surprise. He came into this game with a 5-1-0 record lifetime record and had posted a 2.62 goals-against average and a .910 save-percentage. Not sure who starts in Nashville, but I’d assume it will be Korpisalo because that was the original plan … Thomas Chabot was trying to become the first blueliner in franchise history to score a goal in four straight games. He only had one shot on net … Tkachuk surpassed 600 penalty minutes in his career by getting into it with Kuemper with nine seconds left in the game … The Caps are 10-1-1 in their last 12 against Ottawa.

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THIS ’N’ THAT

It was a horrible night for the defensive pairing of Travis Hamonic and Jakob Chychrun. They were burned more than once, including Hendrix Lapierre’s second of the night 10:55 of the second to give the Caps a 6-3 lead. That was second goal Korpisalo allowed after taking over … While Tkachuk’s 26th of the season at 1:27 of the second pulled the club to within a goal, Lapierre restored the two-goal lead for Washington to 5-3 only 31 seconds later … Two goals in a span of 14 seconds allowed the Caps to pull out to 4-2 lead after the first. Max Pacioretty scored his first in 18 games on the power play to give the Caps the lead at 18:33. That came after a dreadful call on Batherson for boarding and then Beck Malenstyn sent Forsberg to the bench … The Senators erased a 2-0 deficit in a span of 1:29 in the first. Pinto tied it up with his fifth by tipping a Hamonic shot by Kuemper at 12:41. The officials waived it off for high sticking, but after taking a look at a replay overturned the call. Batherson opened the scoring by beating Kuemper low in the circle. That was his seventh goal and 11th point in eight career games against the Caps.

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THE FINAL BUZZER

Two goals in two minutes in the first gave Washington the two-goal advantage. Forsberg should have had the shot by John Carlson from the top of the slot at 8:30 on the power play. An odd-man rush resulted in the opening goal by the Caps. Aliaksei Protas took a pass from Anthony Mantha and waited long enough for Forsberg to commit before beating him with a backhand. That came at 6:30 of the first … Centre Josh Norris went to the dressing room briefly in the first after taking a shot off the left foot … With only one game in the Eastern time zone, this was a popular destination for scouts. There were 24 representatives from 21 teams to see the Caps and Senators. New Jersey, Tampa and Toronto had two scouts each. Anaheim, Boston, Carolina, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Florida, Edmonton, Minnesota, Nashville, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, Vegas and Winnipeg were also on hand. Not sure this performance will help the value of any Ottawa players before the March 8 trade deadline at 3 p.m.

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